Alle Kapitel von Fated to the Shadow Alpha: Kapitel 131 – Kapitel 136

The three days blurred together in a haze of frozen breath, aching muscles, and the relentless throb of Natasha's shoulder beneath bandages that grew steadily more stained.Each morning began the same way.Lyra shaking her awake in the gray predawn light, her hand firm on Natasha's good arm, her voice low and urgent.We need to move.Natasha would rise, biting back the groan that wanted to escape as her shoulder protested the sudden movement, swinging her legs beneath her and forcing her body upright through sheer, stubborn will.Lyra pushed them hard, choosing routes that favored speed over comfort.Game trails.Ridge lines.Paths that shaved hours off the journey but left Natasha's spine jarred and her teeth clenched against the pain.The horses bore the brunt of it, their hooves finding purchase on frozen earth and slick stone with a sureness that spoke of animals bred for mountain terrain.Natasha's mare stumbled once on the second day, her foreleg sliding on a patch of black ice

The first day bled into the second without mercy.The terrain east of Crescent Moon territory shifted from familiar forested hills to something harsher.Rocky ridges cut across the landscape like broken ribs.Dense pine thickets swallowed the light.Narrow passes funneled the wind into a bitter current that cut through even the thickest cloaks.Natasha kept the companies at a disciplined pace.Fast enough to cover ground.Measured enough to preserve the horses' strength for what lay ahead.She knew the route.She had ridden variations of it a dozen times during training exercises with her father's warriors.But this was different.This wasn't practice.Every shadow in the tree line carried weight.Every distant sound on the wind prickled against her senses.Lyra rode at her left flank, her dark eyes sweeping the ridgeline with mechanical regularity.She hadn't spoken much since they'd broken camp at dawn, but Natasha could feel her watching.Quick, assessing glances that dropped to Na

Natasha waited until the moon had climbed high enough to silver the edges of the canopy, then gave the signal.A short, sharp whistle that carried no farther than thirty feet.Around her, the formation shifted without sound.Warriors dismounted in practised silence, hands finding weapons in the dark with the ease of long training.Leather creaked softly.Horses stamped once, then stilled, sensing the tension that rippled through their riders like a current.She'd spent the last two hours mapping it out in her head, turning the terrain over and over until she could see it with her eyes closed.Jasper had tracked the scout to a shallow ravine east of their position, where the pine trees thinned just enough to create a natural corridor.The ground there was soft.Moss and decomposing needles.The ravine's walls rose steeply on either side, funnelling anyone who entered toward a narrow exit at the far end.If the scout was reporting, he'd have a rendezvous point.And if there was a rendez